I haven't been feeling well for the last 3 weeks. It started with me catching a cold. This the second cold I have had in the 15 or more years. The first cold was in January of last year.

Today I feel 100% better than I did that past Thursday. My hip, on the other hand, well, it too feels a tiny bit better. I can lay on my back and sides now, and I don't have to bend slightly to my left side to walk, I can stand up straight...yaaaaaa... 

I guess I should get off of this computer and wash my long awaited, soiled dishes and make something to eat, considering, I have lost my appetite. My body and mind keep telling me, I'm not hungry. 

This past weekend all I had was 3 bananas and a few apples for B'fast, lunch and dinner and I wasn't hungry, at all. Yesterday I had to force myself to eat B'fast, as I did today. Now, for lunch, today, Pancakes or a Burrito? Still not really hungry, though.

Working hard or hardly working...and kittens!

I went out, today, to get my cats, Tom and Jerry, some treats. While in the store the youngster, at the cash register, mentioned I could come at work at the store, if I wanted to work. I had mentioned that I do not work anymore.

I thought about that for a hot second. She also mentioned that I did work for the pet store I could get a free kitten, considering, I already have two cats. What am I going to do with another cat? Even though my cats will be 13 years old this coming…I’m guessing September or October.

But, no. No work and no more cats, for now. It’s bad enough that the two I have now act like they want to kill each other. Feeding time, friends. Being in the same room, death to the…but, I digress.

That got me thinking. I had realized that including working as a paperboy for about three year, working as a fry cook at a local burger joint, working in a mattress factory for the summer, working at Chrysler for a summer, and of course, working at Ford for 3 decades, I have worked for 50 (not exact) of my 65 years! That’s not including working around the house; I had a ton of chores to do and the work I did for the neighbors.

Now, why in the world would I want to work for anyone ever again? Well, maybe for some extra gas money or to travel out of the country, like I use to when I was working.

But, no. I don’t think that will ever happen. I worked hard over those five decades and now it is time for me to take it easy, as I have for the last 12 years, coming up as of July first. Even though retirement is okay, I still have time to relax when I want to. To be honest, heck, every day! (Every day is Saturday, except Sundays and holidays and of course my birthday). 

What I have been doing on the last 12 years, I work as hard as I want to or I should say as hard as it takes to write a novel! That is as hard as I ever want to work again. Considering, writing a novel is hard, very hard work. I did finish my last novel this past March. I am now in the process of writing the second draft and that is time consuming and blowing my mind. It is hard work, to say the least, and I really enjoy writing, always have and always will.

But, no. I will not be working at the pet store, I wouldn’t mind bartending, I enjoyed that when I did, way back in the distant past. Nevertheless, I’m fine and I will survive. I just hope my fingers don’t give out in the meantime, because I have 30 or so books I want to write.

As for getting another cat…I’m thinking about it!

...and we all fall down.

I guess I am going to be out of action for a while. When I fell off of my bike, onto my right side, yesterday. It hurt so bad my left leg got jealous and decided to hurt twice as bad. To make things even worse, I just ran over my bike. Now I gotta get that fixed...geez.

I've been thinking, what's left for me to participate in? My left arm still hurts, I hurt it playing racquetball. My left hamstring still hurts from when I my son decided to wrestle me and yank my leg out of the socket. And of course, now, my right arm hurts, I cannot lift a glass of water to my mouth.

Let me see, while hiking, with newer shoes, I now have planters fasciitis. Last year, the pain was at 100 out of ten. Now, it's at a nice, 1 out of ten. Getting better, slowly. Also while hiking, I've lost at least 6 toenails! I have four more toes to go.

Two years ago, while Kayaking, I went on a 42 mile kayak trip. A first for me. Now my shoulders still hurt, especially when I walk or hike over 5 miles.

What else is left? Bowling is out, I'm left handed and the racquetball pain is still in effect. I would have to guess, camping, car camping. I do need a new tent though. Last year I left some blueberry muffins in my tent and and went to the the potluck about a mile away. When I got back a racoon ripped the side of my tent open, got the muffins and had two muffins in it's tiny thieving hands. But, camping is the only other safe thing left, for me, to do...soooooo.

Golf? Softball? My equipment is getting  dusty and rusty. My back still hurts. Gotta get back into to doing planks, crunches or any abdominal exercises! Heck walking seems to be out of the question, now. I wanted to run a 5k this year and have gotten my time to 42 minutes, this year, and that was yesterday morning. My fastest, last year 31 minutes. But, as of late, just walking, it took me one hour and twenty-minutes today, my average is 52 minutes.

Yes, I am not a spring chicken anymore, is age catching up with me? As my neighbor always says, "age is nothing but how old you think you feel." Actually, that's my saying, but we go back and forth on the age thing and the things we love to do, sports related. Ain't retirement grand?

Anyway, I just got back from CVS and I really wish this Motrin kicks in sooner than later!!!

Apples, apples, apples. Spring has sprung!

Here's something you don't see every day: While on my daily walk, on an obscure street, I saw a strange vehicle coming towards me. Tons of weird protrusions on the top. As it passed I read, APPLE MAPS on the sides. So, in the near future you may see me walking by. I should have taken a picture, it looped me at least three times. Oh well...

Finished!

Finished! After 2 years, 4 months, 8 days, I have finally finished my novel, 60,927 words, my first novel in 28 years. (I wrote 3 novels in the late 80s, and early 90s, but two of my manuscripts are still unpublished. In addition, I wrote and published 2 short stories and 2 books of poems.)

Even though I feel ecstatic, right now, today, I still feel like I haven’t accomplished anything, I feel unfinished. I say this because, in those past 28 years, I have outlined over 40 stories. And in that time frame I kept saying to myself, I have a job, I’m working so hard that I didn’t have time to write. I was enjoying life, also considering that I was married during the 80s and had children who bothered me every minute I wrote something.

I retired from a major auto company in 2006 and decided I had to follow my dream of being a writer. In those past 20 or 35, some odd years, I went to college and studied journalism, and I took a ton of classes in creative writing. It was time for me to start writing.

I never realized that I am a lazy writer. I enjoyed life more than I was enjoying writing. My mother had passed away in 2000 and I then decided that I would write a book of poetry, dedicated to her, “My Mother’s Garden”. But, it took me 10 years to have it published. Now that I think about it, I put it together and passed it out to my family and close friends.

The one thing I noticed, while writing this novel, that at the beginning of January of this year, the feeling came back.  Way back when, I was a prolific writer, but mostly in journalism. However, the dreams of writing a novel flowed through my mind every second. I wrote because I liked writing, I loved it and found a passion for writing. That was then…

Even though I wrote 25,000 words starting that first day in November of 2016, for the start of NaNoWriMo – The National November Write Month, I just couldn’t put any more words together I had writer’s block. I couldn’t think of a word to put down on paper, I mean on computer. It just wasn’t flowing. Then something bit me at the end of January of this year.

On February 1^st, I said to myself, “Let’s do this” and started writing again. At the time, I was at 33,000 words, I did write a little bit in January. I decided to write at least 1,000 words a day, my goal. The passion returned and I was feeling great about it, about my writing, again. With 25 writing days, and a few days of writing over 2,000 words, I finished yesterday, March 7^th. I even wrote over 6,000 words those last 3 days.

I am going to write more this year and I really hope to start another novel, one that I outlined a couple of years ago. But first, I really do need to reread my story, edit the story, find someone to read the story and then find an inexpensive editor to edit the story.

In the meantime, I plan to start, next month, on another book of poems, my third, and a new short book, a compilation of 50 word stories, most of them written over the past 2 years. I just hope that passion stays with me; I have so much more to write…

For now, I have to cut that darn television OFF, and sit down and write more. I’m going to miss baseball. But, for the rest of this month I am going to read at least 6 book, that too is a goal for me, to read at least 25 books this year, 2 books a month, or, now that I think about it, just to nap everyday for the rest of the March. One way or another I am going to make something out of my writing life.

My new tradition...

I am going to start a new, for me, tradition. I am 54,000 words into my novel. I hope to finish it by Wednesday. There was a movie, I loved, way back in the 90s about a writer and his celebratory finishing of his novel. A bottle of Champagne, a single match and a single cigarette. (Can you name the movie?) Me, I am going to substitute the cigarette with a cigar, though.

Soon the Number 1 best selling book in America!

My next door neighbor, who is also a writer, self-published his second book and just got a batch of books today. He gave me a signed copy. Check out his book at: https://tinyurl.com/y8hn6fc6

A writer's gotta write...

I am going to sit here and write for the rest of the day, today. Just as soon as I get off of Blogger, Twitter, and Facebook, wash my b'fast and lunch dishes, take the clothes out of the dryer and fold them, then I will will write until I decide to stop. Or, until the music stop, about 5 hours worth. A writer's gotta write!

Coming soon!

I have finished 50,244 words, so far. I figure I have, about, 10,000 more words to write...give or take a thousand! 

Hopefully, I will finish, writing, by the end of this month. At the time I will put my pen down (figuratively) and set my story aside for a couple of week.  Then all the good stuff starts.

A camping I will go...?

Talk about a waste of my time. I went to Birch Run to an RV and Camper show, just to find out that my car, which is supposed to tow 3500 lbs. Can't tow 3500 lbs. Which means I have to get a pop-up or smaller, something around 12-1500 lbs. I have a 2017 Ford Escape with a 2.0 EcoBoost engine. Geez..

To top it off the little girl who took money, at the door, short changed me by $5. I gave her a $20 and she gave me $9, the cost to get in was only $6.
I didn't notice until I got to the grocery store, 45 miles away. I know I am getting old, but I guess I put too 
much trust in humans.

Gotta keep it warm...

I think the gas company is playing me or my Ecobee3 is finally learning how to keep me warm. In December my power went out twice and I had forgotten how to schedule my Ecobee3.

So, at 3 pm, I would have to physically set my thermostat to 69 degrees and turn it back down to 60 degrees before going to bed. Still trying to figure out how to set the schedule (I will try when I get off of my computer or heck, FB).

Anyway, my December bill, 2016 was only $63. Dec.2017 $96, Jan. 2018, $208, Today it is $78?!

And it has been as cold this month, end of January-February, as it was in December-January. Is that a fluke? Or is that darn thing, Ecobee3 lite, with my help, working??

How I write my novel...

Today: I opened my eyes at 7:06 am this morning. A few inches away from my face was Tom, my cat. I noticed that my alarm didn’t go off; it usually goes off at 7 am. I asked my Alexa Spot, what happened to my alarm, she said, “You didn’t set an alarm for today.” Last night I was messing with something, I don’t remember what, but I do remember seeing the alarm pass by. I might have inadvertently turned it off. So, I ask Alex to turn on the fan, the kitchen lights and brew the coffee, of course not today, because I have beans, which I have to grind before I put the ground beans into the brewer and not my usual ground coffee.

I decided I would get up a little later today; Tom wasn’t having that. He, with his best effort tried to pull the covers off of me, so I threw the covers off. He decided just to grab my PJ top and pull on that instead. So, I get up, walk to the window and take a quick look at what is going to turn out to be a beautiful day. Tom decides to jump up on the ledge and watch with me. Jerry then decides it was his turn to enter the bedroom, but he is too fat to jump up to the ledge so he just sits there.

I put on my robe and head downstairs, Tom is at the bottom of the stairs, screaming, I am guessing he is saying, “Feed Me, I’m hungry”. I open the door wall blinds, then the kitchen blinds, Tom walking beside me the entire time. I pour myself a glass of water and take a vitamin pill.

Jerry

I then recycle the cat food, of course, they don’t eat all of their food, they just want the wet stuff. I clean out their bowls and proceed to open a can of Turkey and salmon…yummy. Tom jumps on the counter, meowing nonstop. I give him the empty can and he goes to town with it. I open another can and put it into Jerry’s bowl and took both bowls to their eating spot. They dig in.

I was going to make a bowl of cereal but decided to make oatmeal. I mix the oatmeal with a cup of water and put it in the microwave for 70 seconds. Coffee! I purchased coffee beans the other day, which makes for a better cup of coffee, in my opinion. I cleaned out the Alex controlled MR. Coffee brewer, ground the coffee beans and put it into the brewer.

The oatmeal was ready so I added walnuts, honey, and a banana, breakfast was ready. I went to my computer, fired it up and then opened the rest of the blinds throughout the house. First thing, check my Yahoo mail, Gmail, and my Comcast mail, and then it was off to Facebook. I had to find all the funny stuff and answer as much crap as I could.

When I finished with the computer, I got up and went to get that first cup of coffee of the day. I purchased some Starbuck’s Blonde coffee beans. I usually stay away from Starbuck’s coffee because it is cheaper, at Kroger, to get the Kroger brand, or for that matter any other brand. But I needed a change. I was surprised; the Starbuck’s brand was great! Will buy more, maybe…

Anyway, at 9 am. I asked Alex to turn on the television and watched about a half hour of the morning news, more for the weather than the news. At 9:30, I watched last night’s recording of AFV, America’s Funniest Videos. I need my morning laughs to get through the day and I was satisfied.

10:15 am. I asked Alex to turn off the television. I decided I was going to get out and do some fitness walking through the neighborhood, 5 kilometers. I had put my sweaty clothes in the dryer yesterday, so I was ready to go out today.

10:35, I had to take the recycled trash out and bring the trashcan back into the garage. I looked around for that stupid neighbor’s cat, he was nowhere in sight. I opened the Alexa app on my phone and closed the garage door and headed out.

One hour, seven minutes and 32 seconds later (1:07:32) later I returned home. I decided I was going to take a shower today; I take a shower, usually every day, but… I got upstairs and meditated for 20 minutes; I need that focus so I can write. When I finished meditating, I took a shower. I wanted to stay in the hot water forever, but I gotta keep the water bill low. My usual time in the shower is about 3 minutes.

Today I thought it would be best to wash my workout clothes and most of everything else. I stripped my bed and threw the sheets into the clothes bin. I took my regular clothes bin downstairs and threw them into the washing machine. I found out I have laundry detergent for one more load, so I will wash the sheets and towels on Wednesday.

12:55 pm. Lunchtime. I want to have a burger and fries for lunch. I looked in the fridge and notice I had no more beer. I finished the last can yesterday watching the Michigan BB game. I then noticed, in the fridge, I still had that pancake mix from yesterday. So, pancakes it would be. I then came to the realization; I would still have to cut up the potato. A burger and no fries or beer for lunch. Alas, I also had no more (veggie) burgers. But, I did have some of those veggie chicken patties.

 Since I had the eggs out, I put two of them back on the fridge, I was going to have a fried egg with my chicken patty burger. Usually, when I cook an egg, I like them over easy. But, for a sandwich, I have to fried them just about solid. I mean, don’t you hate it, when you bite into your sandwich with an egg and the yolk squirts out all over the table and other places?

I fried the egg, on both sides, until it was done, I thought. I put the egg on top of the tomato, placed the bread on it and pushed it down. Egg yolk squirted out, it wasn’t done enough, oh well. I had debated to scoop up the yoke, from the cutting board, and put it into my sandwich. I just wiped it up…

1:03 pm. I again ask Alexa to turn on the television, I wanted to watch the news I recorded the night before, world news. Of course, it started with that guy who thinks he’s running the country.  Twenty minutes later, I shut off the television. I then check my tablet for the rest of my emails. Then headed to Facebook, again.

I should be writing

3:21 pm. I am writing, not my novel, but how I start writing my novel, right now. I need something to drink, so I went back into the kitchen and  poured the last of my wine into a wine glass, and then realized that I made some coffee. Not to waste the wine I gulped it down.

3:45 pm. I have written over 1200 word on this day, but not in my novel, even though I opened the story 90 minutes ago. Now, I will post this to my blog and hopefully, I will start on my novel by at least 4:30 pm. 

More coffee… I need to be writing...

Meditation; too High...?

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    Don't you hate when you meditate for 20 minutes and you feel so good, within and relaxed, ready to face the rest of the day. Then you wake up and it only felt like 10 minutes, but it was 20 minutes...d when you wake up it only felt like 10 minutes, but it was 20 minutes...t you hate when you meditate for 20 minutes and when you wake up it only felt like 10 minutes, but it was 20 minutes...and when you wake up it only felt like 10 minutes, but it was 20 minutes...

2018 goals, decisions and not a single resolution...

Oh yeah, and a few good decisions too!

Wow, look at the time, it’s February 5^th. That would mean that it has been 36 day, and still no resolutions for 2018, something that I stopped doing many, many years ago. I would prefer to stick with having goals.

The main goal, Finish the novel that I am writing, now. Finish my third book of poems, finish the book of 50 word stories and start a new novel this year. Of course there are many more goals, most of them just the personal goal that help with my happiness. So many things to do, so little time, so I best to get ta steppin!

It is also noted, I haven’t really written anything in my blog for the entire month of January. But, I have been writing, especially my novel. What I mean, just little snippets. So, what I am going to do is just do that, unless I have something significant to say.

I think my life is full of those little snippets, paragraphs of me. So, it begins…

I was planning on doing nothing today, nothing, not even getting out of my PJs...Well except write, early. As I was sitting here and one of my cats came to me and I asked it if he was hungry, he said, yes (Meow). So, I got up and fed him. But, he didn't want it. I looked in the cat food bin and it was empty. Sooo, I decided to put my clothes on and run to the store and get them their needs. 

I decided, while I was out I would stop at the CVS for a few things for me. Hey, I had a $6 winning Lotto ticket, from last year to cash. 

I got home and decided that I had to wash the dishes, then make lunch and watch at least an hour of the shows I recorded last night. And, of course, check up on the latest on Facebook. So here I am, I better get back to writing...soon, soon.